Westermoen Hydrofoil

Historie

Westermoen Hydrofoil was a shipyard located in Mandal, Norway, which has specialized in high speed craft, and pioneered many designs.The yard was established in 1961 by Toralf Westermoen, who had also started Westermoen Båtbyggeri og Mek Verksted. The yard began producing hydrofoil craft under license from Italian Supramar.The first boat, Westfoil, with a top speed of 38 knots, was finished in 1962 and was delivered to the Bahamas. After that, a number of small and large (models PT20 and PT50) hydrofoils were built for passenger traffic in western Norway, in the Oslofjord, Øresund, Bahamas and in Greece.Towards the end of the 1960 they built the world's then-largest hydrofoil, the "Expressen", that could carry 250 passengers. The boat did not achieve the intended design speed of 38 knots, and the contract was annulled. This was the beginning of the end of the hydrofoil epoch in Mandal.After this, development of a new class of high speed vessel, the catamaran, began. The Westamaran type, constructed by commander Harald Henriksen and introduced in 1973, was very successful, and a new era of high speed craft in Norway and elsewhere was begun.